Anti-Shark Finning is a web site devoted to one very simple objective – stopping the slaughter of sharks. Sharks are rapidly becoming an endangered species simply because their fins are sought after for the lucrative Shark Fin Soup market. For many it seems the loss of sharks is an acceptable loss. After all, sharks are voracious, fearless predators of humans right? Far from it actually, sharks actually have little or no taste for humans; on average only 100 people a year are bitten by a shark worldwide and just 5-10 die. I particularly like this quote from SharkFacts.org:
The chance of being killed by a shark is one in 300 million. The chance of being killed by airplane parts falling from the sky is one in 10 million.
In short, there is no doubt in the educated community that sharks are, by nature, not man eaters. Unfortunately, much of today’s society is built around the sensationalism of the stereotypical fearsome, soulless, man-eating shark. As a result, only a comparative minority has given a damn that sharks have been hunted so voraciously. That is until Sharkwater the movie came along and helped educate the common person (like myself) that sharks are not the enemy but in fact have a critical position in the oceans as a top predator.
Why are sharks important? Sharks maintain the balance of the ocean food chain by predating other fish. Without sharks their prey would grow in numbers and ultimately cause havoc with the oceans that allow us to survive. Yes, you ready correctly, if sharks are wiped out humankind may not be far behind. That is because at the very bottom of the ocean food chain there is phytoplankton which is the food for many ocean species and generates half of the worlds oxygen. If the population of prey species are allowed to grow unchecked due to the lack of the world’s top predator (Sharks) then there is every reason to believe that the population of the ocean’s phytoplankton and thus our oxygen supply would be at real risk.
Of course, the very real scientific threat is only important if you don’t have a problem with the initial issue of cutting off the fins of live sharks and throwing them back in the ocean to die.
Here are some excellent videos to watch that will both introduce you to Sharkwater and lend some substance to the points I made here. While you watch these clips please consider supporting the Sharkwater Foundation in educating the public and protecting our precious sharks.
Sincerely,
Ross Dunn
Creator, AntiSharkFinning.com
The trailer for SharkWater – the film that is slowly changing the world’s opinion on sharks.
